Author and historian Danny Nichols
will present a program, “Buried Secrets,” about exploration of historic
graveyards to the Giles County Historical Society and the public on Sunday,
Jan. 27, 2013, at 2 p.m. at the First National Bank
Community Room.

Danny Nichols grew up in the Auburntown area of Cannon County, graduating from Auburn
High School in 1971. Nichols said that history has long been a passion of his
life, and while attending Cumberland College in Lebanon, his first aspirations
toward performing historic research emerged.Family history has always been at the heart of those interests, although he
said he enjoys American history – especially early Tennessee history. He
particularly enjoys Civil War history and how it affected family, community and
country.Nichols graduated from Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville with honors in
1975. During his time in Cookeville he utilized the TTU library to conduct
genealogical research, which later led to the publishing of his Nichols Family
History in 2005. Soon after, he led a group of 50 Willard descendants from
across the country in an effort to update another line of his family history.
This work, History of Beverly Willard Family of Virginia and Tennessee, was
published in November 2011.A charter member of the Cannon County Historical Society, Nichols has remained
a member since its 1976 founding. He co-founded the Auburntown Historical
Society in 2006, leading the organization during his presidency through
publication of two books on local history and one containing favorite recipes
of Auburntown citizens.

While growing up near a small
family cemetery, Nichols developed an interest in the history such cemeteries
contain. His presentation highlights cemetery research and discoveries made
during his own quest of locating ancestors.“I enjoy discovering what Mother Nature has hidden from those who find
cemeteries of great interest and historical value,” he said, observing, “It is
our history, our story that is recorded on the tombstones that now lie beneath
the ground. I feel a certain comfort in knowing that finding and raising them
brings back to life a certain part of our history.”Nichols continues to work toward finding the graves of his own ancestors who
settled in the Auburntown community in 1803 and those of his wife, Giles
Countian Claudia Johnson, whose family settled in the Campbellsville area soon
after Giles County was founded. Nichols and Johnson, who live near
Campbellsville, are active members of the Campbellsville Area Association.

“In presenting ‘Buried Secrets,’ I
will speak of lessons learned so that others interested in this subject may
also engage successfully in this type of historical research and preservations
efforts,” he said.The Jan. 27 meeting is free and open to the public.

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Claudia Johnson – writer, ancestor investigator, history lover

Claudia Johnson is a 7th generation Giles Countian. She received the Commissioner's Award in 2012 from the Tennessee Historical Commission recognizing her lifetime of work in historic preservation and promotion. Her book, A Page from the Past, was honored by the Tennessee Press Assoc. in 2005. In 1989 she co-authored Giles Heirlooms: Historic Recipes and Places. A former president of the Giles County Historical Society & a current member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, she is an outspoken advocate of preservation of historic resources. She holds a B.A. in English-Journalism from Union University and has spent her career in community development, public relations, marketing or news reporting. She was one of nine coordinators for Tennessee Homecoming ‘86, editor-in-chief of the Cumberland Business Journal, Executive Director of the Sgt. York Patriotic Foundation and is currently Marketing Director for Honest Abe Log Homes and a partner in Connected Sustainability LLC, a communications consulting firm. Claudia is married to history and genealogy enthusiast Danny Nichols.